Playing with Fire
Michele Hauf

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Parish—thief, vampire and witch—needs to steal a Council device to retrieve her father’s soul. Unfortunately for her, fire demon Cinder is equally determined to get it back and is hot on her trail…literally. Even during the heat of the chase, their attraction is undeniable. Parish may think indulging in a little mind-blowing sex will distract her pursuer, but Cinder isn’t about to give up so easily. The longer she evades him, the more she fires his need to track her down, recover the device and make her pay—by satisfying all his wicked desires.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter One

“Just a few more tweaks…” I entered a final password into the security database for the Council’s new storage facility, located in the seventh quarter of Paris behind the former military school, and clicked return. “And you’ll be up and running.”

“Thanks, Cinder.” Certainly Jones, the Council’s chief archivist, slapped me across the back and propped up his booted feet on the table next to the security panel that featured six HD screens that would broadcast from all cameras. “Where you headed next?”

“Not sure. I might have some downtime here in Paris.”

I was the Council’s one and only systems technician and securities advisor. Computer algorithms and mathematics? Such innate skill ran through my veins. You might even say I was the originator of numbers. And despite the Council’s tradition of observing and respectfully guiding as they oversaw the paranormal nations, they were aware a more high-tech method of watching must be utilized in this day and age.

Certainly was a witch who practiced dark magic, and had given me the name Cinder after I’d escaped from Beneath, and had been a friend and advisor regarding this mortal realm since.

“Here you go. The storage facility is now online.” I clicked Return and we both leaned forward to study the security screens that flickered on to show various places within and without the ultra-warded facility. Certainly was the first to notice the blur on screen six.

“Is that a person?” he asked. “Coming out of the storage facility? I’m not aware of scheduled access today, other than you.”

My heart sank, because it would be too insane that someone had infiltrated the place while I had taken the wards and security down for a mere two hours to set up the cameras.

“Can’t be.” I eyed the dark figure. Looked small, like a kid, dressed in black. The person slinked along the back wall of the building. And then the figure tugged off the black hood to reveal a fall of long blond hair.

“It’s a chick,” Certainly said. “Robbing us!”

“Not for long.” Shoving away from the desk on the roller-wheeled office chair, I stood and spread out my arms in preparation to smoke on out of there. “Be right back.”

I’m a fire demon from Beneath. I wield fire as my own personal weapon. I can do cool things like mist to smoke or fire, and traverse great distances with but a thought. But apparently, I can’t prevent a thief from taking opportunity of security downtime.

I smoked to human shape outside the storage facility. Wisps of emerald smoke lingered at my feet. A lush perfume hit me like a bouquet of “I’m sorry” roses in a cheating boyfriend’s face. Anger rising, flames wisped from my hands as I ran around the corner and spied the blonde figure dashing down the Metro stairs.

Smoking to the top of the stairs, I didn’t bother that mortals would notice. It was well after midnight and this Metro station appeared empty. I raced down the concrete tunnel, my boots thudding in rhythm to the arriving train. I could smoke faster than run, and did so, insinuating myself onto the train car just as it braked.

The thief jumped on and collided with my chest as I assumed solid human form.

“Gotcha,” I said, grabbing her wrist.

Hollering out an impressive karate-like “hiyah!” she kneed me in the groin.

Whoever this guy was, he certainly did not have me. Sexy, though. Even wincing and bent over as he clutched his jewels. Poor thing. I may be tiny and unassuming, but I can wield a punch that’ll knock a werewolf flat. Attribute that to my mortal genes; my father was once a welterweight boxing champion. Add to that the fact I’ve been vampire for ten years and have possessed witch magic for eight, and I’m the complete danger girl package.

“Is that how you pick up women?” I asked, leaning against the steel pole behind me as the subway car zoomed forward. The guy righted himself, all nearly seven feet of him. A leather choker around his neck clasped a silver circle right over his Adam’s apple. “You’re cute and all, and my goddess, those shoulders are impressive, but I like my men a touch more romantic. Flowers. Platitudes. Sweet nothings whispered in my ear. That’s how you’ll win my heart, buddy.”

Sneering, he lunged and gripped my shoulders. My reaction time slowed by observation of his sigh-worthy muscles, he managed to wrap his arms around my chest and arms so I couldn’t push him away. Now he seemed impervious to my kicks that landed on his shins. Should have worn my steel-toed Doc Martens, but low ballet flats were necessary when sneaking around.

“You have something that belongs to me,” he hissed. His breath was hot with a hint of mint, and his arms felt even hotter, like he was made of molten steel. “Rather, you took something from the Council.”

Ah. I understood now. Had there been cameras on sight? I’d received intel there were no security measures in place. What the heck?

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, McSteamy. Seriously you have a fever? Ouch. You’re burning me!”

He released me like that. “Sorry.” The sexy bruiser stepped back, shaking out his hands. A few flames fell from his fingers to the floor of the train and flickered out in red cinders.

Wriggling my back, because I felt sure he’d burned through the black turtleneck and to my skin, I asked, “What the hell are you?”

“Fire demon.”

Well, well. That explained the smolder in his mesmerizing brown eyes.

“And you are vampire.”

“Who has witch magic,” I said, because I wanted him to know exactly what he was dealing with. A demon? I could take him, no problem. Unless he was able to shoot flames at me. Hmm…

The next stop was mine. I shifted my hips and turned a foot in preparation to dart as soon as the automatic doors slid open.

“What did you take?” he asked.

He didn’t know? Then I wasn’t going to tell him. Not even if he licked me from belly to neck and spent a lot of time suckling and kissing in between with that hot tongue of his.

Whew! Where had that come from, Parish? You are not attracted to the demon’s smoldering gaze. Well, maybe a little. Combine the smolder with his solid, muscled form and that messy dark hair that hung over one eye—okay, I was attracted! This fine specimen would coax even a nun to tear off her rosary. But I was the furthest thing from a nun.

The train stopped and the doors opened. I sprang out and ran toward the exit, expecting the demon to tail me. Since when had I ever been attracted to the demonic breed? Their black blood was rumored to taste nasty. Still, muscles and smolder rated high on my scale.

I met my gorgeous pursuer at the top of the stairs that opened onto a cobbled avenue. How had he—?

Lowering his head, his dark eyes smiled in triumph, though his perfect lips did not move. Kiss me with those thick bowed lips, Mr. Sexy Demon.

Nix that. He wanted something I couldn’t—wouldn’t—give him.

And yet, when the going got tough, I could slip into sneaky sensual mode with an ease that made others in my tribe beg to take lessons. All men could be controlled with a wink and a flirtatious touch, if not a little magic.

I took the last two steps slowly, walking right toward the alluring hunk of oh-so-fine. My apartment was close but I guessed he’d trail me, so I had to make sure he didn’t have the capacity to do so. What I knew about demons is they liked to sin and they never refused the carnal pleasures (or so I hoped).

He was well over a head taller than me—easy for any man since I barely toed five feet tall—and his shoulders were twice as wide as mine. Strong, powerful and able to eat little girls for lunch. The notion of this man eating me…

Parish, your mind is in the wrong place!

But not wrong for my impromptu plan to work. I’d been practicing a submission spell, but it did require blood. Guess I was going to have to take one for the team.

Tilting up on tiptoes, I landed the demon’s mouth with mine. Clinging to his shoulders I delivered my seductive wiles with a firm, explorative kiss. I licked his lips and tugged out the bottom one with my teeth. Man, he tasted like dessert. Yeah, run your hands down my hips and derriere, you horny demon. That’ll make the spell sink in deeper—and my teeth.

I snagged his lip with a fang and blood spilled across my tongue. Hot, thick and probably black, but it didn’t taste bad, rather caramel salty and dark. Before he could exclaim, I swiped my finger through the blood and then pressed it against his throat above the choker and smeared it in a black circle. “Cedo!”

The demon soared through the air, away from me. He transformed to green smoke midflight, which hadn’t been part of the spell. If the spell was successful, he’d only want to please the one who had just kissed him. And a submissive man would never take what didn’t belong to him, especially from the girl he adored.

Not about to stick around to see what came next, I dashed down the narrow cobbled alleyway, congratulating myself on a successful nab tonight. If all went well, tomorrow I’d be back in Venice at my father’s bedside. And his soul would be saved.

I raced through the apartment building lobby, decorated in the old art nouveau style with acanthus leaves and half-naked women climbing along the walls, and up the stairs to the second floor where I’d borrowed an apartment from Zara Destry, the Lilith tribe leader. I love that vampiress. A fine replacement for my long-dead mortal mother, she took care of me as if I was one of her own. I had only my father left, but that wouldn’t be for long. I needed family to help navigate the paranormal world I’d been thrust into against my will.

Punching in the digital code, I swung the apartment door inside, and let out a chirp at the sight of the smirking demon whose hair smoked and whose palms were filled with flames.

Chapter Two

The vixen had the audacity to run her tongue along those bright white fangs. Add that to the lifted brow and her rose-kissed cheeks and I instantly lost the anger that blazed in my hands. Rubbing my palms along my thighs sifted off the after-smoke in emerald wisps.

This little thief would undo me. I had sensed her attempt to bespell me at the top of the Metro stairs, to somehow make me want to submit to her. Hadn’t worked. I am impervious to witchcraft. Though the kiss had been worthy of another go at it. And very well, the spell had sent me flying. How had she been able to do that? Vampires could not maintain such powerful magic, could they?

She boldly approached me, the tip of her finger stroking the corner of her bow lips, eyeing me up and down with pale gray eyes that held a diamond twinkle.

Straightening, I set back my shoulders, because she walked behind me now—was she checking out my ass?

“This apartment is warded,” she said. “How’d you get in?”

For the same reason witchcraft had no effect on me: I could cross any and all wards thanks to the devil’s mark carved into my back. But she didn’t need to know that. “Just lucky. Now hand over what you took or—”

“Or?”

She swung around in front of me, a teasing glitter sparkling her eyes. Everything about her was pale yet bright, and energized with a heightened sexuality that I could feel enter my pores as if an enemy invader I’d like to embrace. I rarely turned down opportunity to dally with a gorgeous woman. The sensual pleasures were meant to be indulged.

Impervious, Cinder, remember that. You do not want to submit to her.

“Just what did you have in mind, handsome?”

If she thought flirting would distract me— Was she wearing pink lipstick, or were her lips that lush and petal soft? Kissable. The compulsion to kiss her arose and—

I grabbed her wrist and slid my hand along the waistline of her tight black pants. Her small frame was lost against my greater bulk, but I distinctly noticed the hard press of her nipples below mine and the heat of her breath that landed on the base of my throat.

What had I come here for? And why was my hand now sliding with sensual ease along her back and around front where I felt no bra beneath the body-hugging black shirt?

“Find something you want to play with?” she cooed. “I know I have.”

Her tongue touched the skin at my throat where the white business shirt gaped open, and I sucked in a gasp. Delicate fingers tickled along my pectorals. The feel of this tiny thief seeking to overpower me did not surprise so much as make me want her to succeed.

“What’s your name, sexy?” she asked.

“Cinder,” came out on a throaty hush that startled me.

What the hell, Cinder? You’re being played by a sneaky vampiress.

I gripped her wrists, abruptly stopping the futile seduction. “What’s the name of the thief I caught red-handed?”

“Parish,” she said, her kissable lips curling to an even more irresistible pink bow. “What makes you think I stole anything?”

My hand dropped to her derriere where the pocket wasn’t formed like a soft womanly curve. Still holding her wrist securely, I slipped the heavy piece out from the pocket and held it before her. “What’s this?”

She narrowed her gaze, but gave no indication she was at all flustered. “What does it look like to you?”

I inspected the heavy disk, about half an inch thick and three inches in diameter and etched with indiscernible runes on what looked like black carbon fiber. I had no clue what it was, but if the Council had chosen to store it in a high-security facility, then it must do something bad. I was familiar with the measurement scale of all things from bad to really bad to oh fuck this is going to leave a permanent mark. I’d guess this thing landed somewhere between bad and the permanent mark range.

“You have no idea,” she said on a ticklish peal. Snagging the disk, she danced away from me and around behind the black velvet couch. “Who are you, Cinder?”

“I am the Council’s security advisor.”

Chagrin heated my neck when she gave me the “seriously” look.

“The security wards were down for two hours,” I explained, “so I could set up the system. How could you have possibly known the window in which the system would be shut off?”

“I didn’t. Guess I got lucky.” She strolled down a hallway, and I knew she was going to hide the evidence.

I smoked ahead of her and landed beside a dresser, but too close to the dainty whitewashed piece of furniture, which caused me to stumble and land ungracefully sprawled across a low platform bed.

Parish giggled at my faux pas, and I could but shake my head at how out of my senses this vampiress made me. Me. The demon of hellfire, the Flaming One. It was as if wherever she went, I felt compelled to follow, whether or not I’d gain the stolen device. I simply wanted to be near her. Had the spell worked after all?

This was going to be a long night.

There was no way the demon would leave with ritrovatore d’anime in his hand. I’d been planning this heist for weeks, and had succeeded thanks to a little reconnaissance help from my tribe members who wanted only the best for me and my mortal father. Now, if the fire demon would get out of my way, I could hop a plane for Venice.

But the distraction of his insanely muscled body and those eyes that couldn’t seem to do anything but smolder at me, made me wonder if a little focused seduction wouldn’t go a long way in getting the demon on my side. A smear of black blood had dried above the leather and silver choker. Apparently the submission spell had not taken. Though he was following me around like a puppy dog. Hmm… No, I didn’t sense unconditional abandon on his part or even a smidgen of undying worship.

But he wasn’t as staunch as he liked to think. I knew I couldn’t physically defeat him, so I’d have to dig deeper into my wiles.

Opening the dresser drawer, I dropped the device onto a stack of silk panties and closed it. A flick of my finger and a whispered, “Claustro” restored the lock spell to the drawer.

Before Cinder could pull himself up to sit, I leaned over him, on the bed, and pulled open his button-up shirt with a daring rip. Mmm, crisp white cotton against deeply tanned flesh. I loved the white-collar corporate raider look on a man who could literally toss flames through the air. And his pants were midnight-black. Oh, baby, what a sexy combination.

“What the—?”

“There’s a handsome man lying on my bed,” I cooed. “Wouldn’t want to let this opportunity pass. Mercy, that is more than a six-pack. I didn’t know they made demons so sturdy.”

“I was forged Beneath. Of course I’m—”

I tongued his nipple, and he hissed with pleasure. “You won’t start on fire if I do this, will you?”

The whole fiery hands thing had freaked me, but I figured it’s because he was a fire demon. I didn’t have a fire extinguisher nearby, so I hoped he could keep his cool.

“Parish,” he rasped. “Not wise.”

“Maybe I should keep a bucket of cold water by the bed?”

“No. Won’t flame.”

I licked down his abs to his stomach. Oh hell, no belly button. What the heck?

“Beelzebub and all the demons in Beneath, what are you up to?”

I maintained seduction mode, but only by not looking at his smooth belly. “Up to? Only your stomach,” I said, then licked a trail higher to a hard pectoral. “Now I’m at your chest. A little higher?”

He gripped the back of my hair tightly, which pulled my tongue off his skin, but I could work with his angry vibe, and bracketed my knees around his hips.

I hadn’t realized demons could look so physically different from other paranormals. If he didn’t have a belly button, then he may not have a birth mother. I could buy into that. Corporeal demons were summoned from all sorts of nasty, or so I suspected.

“Your spell didn’t work,” he said through a clenched jaw, “so now you think you can distract me?”

“I have been known to distract.” Though it was much tougher going the more I thought about his unholy origins. Tossing my head to the side slid my long hair over his bare chest.

He hissed again in pleasure. “I’ll call your bluff. Let’s do this.”

Flipped around, I soared onto my back and landed the pillows with a cushy pouf. The demon crawled over me, his fingers sneaking up under my top. I knew he would get what he wanted—what we both wanted—before the night was over, and what I wanted was a distracted demon.

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